Since things had gone this far, Yu Lian's two trusted aides, one old and one young, naturally had nothing more to say.
Before long, they had the heraldry mecha brought over, its back adorned with peony patterns and a banner bearing the character Yu.
"Come to think of it, isn't wearing something like this into battle a bit too feudal? Someone's bound to think this fleet's become a warlord's private army."
"Just think of it as a mascot or something. Besides, since we're at war, isn't militarization the trend? This sort of thing has always been hard to avoid. As for whether the ruler can gently nip this tendency in the bud, that depends on their wisdom. But that has little to do with you and me." Rozes smiled.
That wasn't necessarily true. Yu Lian thought of the army from his hometown in one of his previous lives, so unlike anything else in its military history, and suddenly felt that he still had a long way to go. He sat back down in his chair, suddenly feeling a little hungry again.
"There's still time for another meal," Rozes said. "And we have roast duck."
"...Was that sent over from New Shenzhou too?"
Rozes nodded with a smile. "Mr. Qi plans to turn Baichuan into an agricultural base for New Shenzhou, so he released a hundred thousand breeding ducks on the thawing plains. They've gone feral now, and the population has grown to five hundred thousand. They taste excellent, too."
Well, it was easy to imagine. Developing the Tianshu system required a great deal of labor, and setting up an agricultural base on nearby Baichuan would at least make resupply easier. They wouldn't have to send food through the narrow, winding Shanhai Passage, which would save a hefty sum in freight